Monster Hunter: World

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Monster Hunter is an action RPG series that puts you in the boots of a hunter,
facing off against gigantic monsters in magnificent, lush environments.

As a hunter, you'll take on quests to hunt monsters in a variety of habitats.
Take down these monsters and receive materials that you can use to create stronger weapons and armor in order to hunt even more dangerous monsters.

The series has achieved worldwide sales of over 40 million units,
thanks to the ability to play by yourself or with other players co-operatively.

In Monster Hunter: World, the latest installment in the series,
you can enjoy the ultimate hunting experience, using everything at your disposal to hunt monsters
in a new world teeming with surprises and excitement.

First of all, I have to say that writing a blog post for a series I grew up with is quite possibly one the most surreal experiences I’ve had to date! Having spent a sizeable portion of my teens and adult years sinking hours into the franchise, it’s safe to say that I’m truly honoured to be able help and see the community grow more and more in the west, and bring the series to PlayStation 4 for the first time!

We’ve been working around the clock to ensure that this entry in the Monster Hunter franchise is the greatest it can be, and we figured it’s probably time that we share more about what Monster Hunter: World is, and why we’re so excited for you to get it in your hands as soon as humanly possible!

With the technologies available in the current generation, the development team went back to the drawing board and re-examined the core concept of what makes this franchise so unique, Hunting. With those thoughts in mind they’ve introduced new mechanics, and re-imagined some old ones to truly make you feel as if you’re stalking your prey in treacherous lands.

We’ve created a gameplay walkthrough for you that highlights some of the exciting content we showed off behind closed doors at E3 in our Monster Hunter theatre, just to introduce you guys to how Monster Hunter: World is truly the next big step in the series.

The gameplay video shows a brave hunter embarking on a quest to slay the all new Anjanath. But it’s not as easy as it sounds as the living and breathing ecosystem affects your gameplay at every moment, resulting in an incredibly dynamic experience. You’ll even need to use it to your advantage and maybe even pit some of the monsters against each other to instigate some seriously awesome battle royales!

I don’t want to give too much away and spoil the video for you, so check it out for yourselves below! I hope after watching it that you’re as ready as I am to sink countless hours into hunting and discovering new ways to take down your prey!

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Monster Hunter: World brings you into a rich and intricate set of living, breathing ecosystems, and to prepare you for the wildest dangers of this new world, we introduce a robust home base of operations to supply your every need. Enter: Astera.

Astera, the beating heart of the Research Commission, has everything a hunter needs:

Guild representatives: these are your points of contact for every quest in the game. They’ll give you all the details on every quest, including any special instructions and potential hazards.

Blacksmiths: as you take down foe after foe, you can bring raw materials, such as scales, claws, bones and minerals, to the blacksmiths and they’ll forge new weapons and armour to prepare you for the next hunt.

Shopkeepers: in addition to picking the right weapon and armour set for the job, you’ll also need healing potions, traps and ammo. Talk to these folks on your way out to the field to replenish your tool set.

Cantina: this is arguably the most important spot in Astera. As every good hunter knows, you should never hunt on an empty stomach, so head on over to the cantina and get a delicious meal before every quest to boost your stats!

Research team: we wouldn’t be a “Research Commission” without one, and these fellows play a key role in Monster Hunter: World. As you saw in our latest trailer above, you have a pretty important job ahead of you, and you’ll be working alongside Astera researchers to get it done.

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The Monster Hunter World beta kicks off next week, and here’s when PlayStation Plus members will be able to jump on it.

A PlayStation Plus-exclusive beta for Monster Hunter World will take place on December 9, and Capcom has posted the schedule along with contents of the beta and pre-load times.

During testing, save data will be wiped. This means that once the application is closed, the character’s name, appearance, equipment, and all other settings will be reset to default. Quest completion data, however, will be saved to the server.

We’ve listed the Monster Hunter World PlayStation Plus open beta start times in PST, as well as EST and BST. Click the time links in the Monster Hunter World start times details below, you’ll open a new tab showing the exact time in major cities in every time zone.

Pre-load: The Monster Hunter World beta will be made available for pre-load on Friday, December 8. A start time has not been provided as of December 2.

The PS Plus-exclusive beta obviously requires a membership, an internet connection and a PS4 console. Players will also need 5.9GB of free space available.

The Monster Hunter World beta test will also use worldwide multiplayer matchmaking to test server load for the upcoming release. For the duration of the beta test, players will be grouped with other players from around the world.

It’s worth noting that the beta features a game currently in development, so some aspects such as balance may be changed before the final release.

Global Moderator

I’m Yuya Tokuda and I’m the director of Monster Hunter: World. Speaking on behalf of the whole development team, I’m delighted to be able to bring the beta test of Monster Hunter: World to players worldwide.

This is the first time we’ve released a Monster Hunter game in all regions simultaneously, and also the first time the online multiplayer servers have supported global matchmaking, so it truly is the most worldwide Monster Hunter game yet. That’s why we decided to release a beta in order to stress test the servers.

I hope you enjoy the selection of quests we’ve included in the beta and get the most out of it while it’s available. By playing the beta and enjoying the hunting action of Monster Hunter: World, you’ll also be helping us out a lot! A huge, living, breathing world of thrilling action awaits you.

Today I’m going to explain what’s in the beta and how the get the most out of it, especially if you’re a newcomer to Monster Hunter and aren’t sure how to get into the game. Don’t worry, you’ll love it!

1. The backstory to your mission and quests
While the beta features several quests, the main game has an engaging storyline for you to follow. You’ll embark on a mission to the New World, a newly discovered continent, and join an expedition to discover more about this mysterious land. This is actually the fifth time a research party has been sent, following in the wake of the Elder Dragons which cross the ocean every 10 years to the New World. To discover the fate of your hunter and the rest of the team, you’ll have to play the full game!

2. Your weapons: what they are, how they work, and our recommended loadout
Monster Hunter: World features 14 different weapon types, each with its own unique moves and gameplay, and you can try out all of them in the beta. We’ve included a short video showing you how the weapon looks, and you can also hop into the training area to give them a try for yourself. (You can change your weapon inside the training area too!)

The game plays quite differently depending on your choice of weapon, so for newcomers to Monster Hunter, I’d recommend choosing one of the faster weapons, such as the Dual Blades or the Long Sword. These are actually the two weapons I personally use when I’m first testing out a new monster during development, as they let you move around quickly so you can easily get a read of the monster’s behaviour.

We also have some ranged weapons available to use: two kinds of Bowgun (Light and Heavy) and the Bow. These weapons have been rather tricky to control in the past, so for Monster Hunter: World, we’ve made them a lot easier to use. If you’re used to playing shooter games, I think you’ll be able to pick these up pretty quickly and get right into the hunt.

3. Choose from a range of preset hunters
The full game features a detailed character creator which will let you create your ultimate hunter. For the beta, we’ve kept things simple and provided you with some preset hunters to choose from.

4. How to start a co-op party and how to communicate with other hunters
Co-operative multiplayer is a great way to take down the huge beasts in this game. To hunt with your friends, all you need to do is start a session and share the ID with your friends so they can input it and join you. But even if you haven’t got anyone you know to play with, go ahead and join up with other players from around the world. There’s a variety of ways to communicate with one another – not just PS4 voice chat and text chat, but also set phrases that will automatically show up in the right language for everyone, and some fun stickers and gestures.

One of the best things about Monster Hunter is the amazing community spirit. Back in the day, I once joined a quest online to fight against a monster that I’d actually created myself. I thought that being its creator meant I could take it on by myself, and ran straight in with my sword swinging, but I was too cocky – I got taken out pretty quickly. It was embarrassing but the rest of the hunting party helped me get back on my feet and, together, we took the beast down!

I still hunt together with some of those hunters to this day. It just goes to show you that even the most experienced hunters make mistakes, so take it easy on them! You never know, you might be able to make some new hunting pals and add each other to your PSN friends.

5. The two different maps you can explore
The beta features three quests set in two different maps: the Ancient Forest and the Wildspire Waste. I wanted this game to have each map be its own ecosystem, with believable interactions between all the living things in it, even down to the plants.

Have fun exploring each map – they’re very different from each other, from the verdant splendour and dense foliage of the Ancient Forest to the arid landscapes and mucky swamps of the Wildspire Waste. There are even more maps to come in the full game, so this is just a taste of the incredibly detailed maps in Monster Hunter: World.

6. The bigger monsters for those wanting an extra challenge
I think I’ve covered pretty much all you need to know to get into the beta. I’m excited to see how you all find it – but I imagine that there will be some of you expert players out there who want an extra challenge.

If so, you should try finding the large monsters in each map who aren’t the main quest target – that’s Rathalos in the Ancient Forest, and Diablos in the Wildspire Waste.

These guys are truly tough customers, and will test all your skills – not just with weapons, but understanding and utilising your environment and, in multiplayer, working as a team with your fellow hunters. Getting to know each map is especially important: for example, the dam in the treetops of the Ancient Forest can be used for some “explosive” action…

Rathalos and Diablos are both at the top of the food chain in their respective maps, so I spent a lot of time working on them, from making them visually impressive to the gameplay balance while hunting them. They’re very challenging, but if you can successfully take them down, the sense of achievement and satisfaction you get is second to none, and that’s what makes Monster Hunter so special.

Anyway, that’s enough from me! Get out there and get hunting!

Pre-load for Monster Hunter: World beta starts at midnight tonight, and the beta goes live at 6pm CET on Saturday, 9th December and runs until 6pm CET on Tuesday, 12th December. You’ll need PS Plus to access the beta.

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I played all three challenges completed the first solo, completed the second solo and co-op, failed both solo and co-op with the third.

I haven't played a previous monster hunter so can't compare from experience.

I liked what I did play though but if it wasn't for the narration I wouldn't have understood what I was doing.

Didn't delve into weapons and potions to much as I feel that needs to be main game and tutorials, instead of dropped in at the deep end.

I only attacked monsters if I had to which was in the third challenge only, I started picking up various plants and berries but stopped, as I didn't know if I required them and the fact nothing saved per session you play felt like a loss.

I used the same strategy of going to the spot on the map and finding footprints (mucus in the third) to level up and find the monster required for each challenge.

I used the main weapon the character starts with big axe or something then I switched to dual blades which made attacking much more easier to do.

The only titles I can say it matches I've played is twilight princess a little but more horizon zero dawn, I felt the movement was more fluid in horizon than monsters but then it might have been my setup with armour and weapons that made it feel slow and Jerky in battle.

Game looks great with HDR and 4k, details in the levels and monsters themselves is good.

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